Personal church attendance record.

[Korihor]

I have not attended my local ward for 4 consecutive Sundays.

I did attend Christmas Sunday with my folks in Utah, but I'm not counting that.

This is a record for me.

Today, 2 of my friends/leaders in the ward texted me to check how we are doing.

I don't plan on attending this Sunday either, but Mrs Kori might...

[No Tof]

Ah brother Korihor, sounds like you are slipping down the slope.
The ride down gets more exciting as you continue the path. Building up speed, finding joy in the journey as you discover all the things available to do every seventh day.

Soon your ward will seem a distant memory and if you're lucky you will seem the same to most of them. Our training in the church is to be overtly friendly to those who serve with us in our ward callings but move on quickly to others and other things once the callings change.

I attended for three years with DW to "support" her but found it less then effective. Now she attends every week and wishes there were extra meetings. I do my own thing and we have reached a truce with regard to church.

We all hope for peace, and I wish you the best as you navigate these possibly turbulent waters.

[Silver Girl]

Good job!

I was going to post this milestone in a new thread, but (hope this is okay) I will mention it here: After I resigned in the Fall of 2015, I had to enter the building a few times to help a friend and to attend a funeral. I set a goal of not entering the building even once for all of 2016, and I reached my goal! No services, no nothing. My friend was released from her calling, so I didn't need to go into the building to help her (which I would have done; she is a sweetie & can't get around well).

NEO - I am official now. I want my T-shirt.

Keep up the good work, Elder Korihor, and you will get the shirt, too! (Wait - maybe I spelled 'shirt' wrong?).

[Red Ryder]

The Circle K by your house called me to see if you were ok. I told them to stop ordering extra donuts and cherry coke syrup for Sundays but to increase the hot dog capacity and speed up the turn rollers because you would probably be in on a Saturday night beer run.

Your margarita waitress also said to tell you hello! ...and that you giggle like a little girl!

[SunbeltRed]

I did break my record and attended Sacrament Meeting last Sunday. Personal records as of June of last year:

3, maybe 4 sacrament meetings attended
0 Sunday School meetings attended
1 HPG meeting
1 EQ meeting (I was going to see if more bearable than HPG...not really
4 Episcopal Communion services attended (all of them were amazing)

I plan to improve those numbers in 2017, new year's resolutions and all that.

[20/20hind]

You must not be reading your scriptures and praying.

[Korihor]

I learned that 2 members of the RS Presy are coming to visit Mrs Kori today.

[Silver Girl]

I learned that 2 members of the RS Presy are coming to visit Mrs Kori today.

Uh-oh. They work in pairs. Two by two. Maybe that visit will be enough of the COB brand of religion for her this week and she will skip SM and spend the day with you.

[Korihor]

I learned that 2 members of the RS Presy are coming to visit Mrs Kori today.

Uh-oh. They work in pairs. Two by two. Maybe that visit will be enough of the COB brand of religion for her this week and she will skip SM and spend the day with you.

Maybe, hopefully.
Mrs Kori really struggles with the RS Pres. This isn't the first time they've come by, so this isn't too far out of the ordinary. But Mrs Kori hasn't attended for 4 weeks either, but it all fairness she was out of town for 3 of those Sundays. Maybe it's coincidental the show up the week after she misses the 1 first Sunday she was supposed to attend? Maybe not.

I'm probably reading into it too much, but I am becoming more and more suspicious we're on the projects list.

Our attendance is decreasing. Mrs Kori asked to be released from all her callings. I am/was increasing belligerent in EQ. And the BP wife saw me drinking at a Christmas party.

[Korihor]

The Circle K by your house called me to see if you were ok. I told them to stop ordering extra donuts and cherry coke syrup for Sundays but to increase the hot dog capacity and speed up the turn rollers because you would probably be in on a Saturday night beer run.

Your margarita waitress also said to tell you hello! ...and that you giggle like a little girl!

Circle K is not happy with me. I've given up soda as part of my new commitment to Crossfit with Mrs Kori. But it has been subsidized with a bit more consumption of a dark roast brew. And no more donuts if I'm not going to EQ, soooo, their revenues are hurting.

I giggled like a little girl when you mentioned my margarita waitress.

[Corsair]

I have not attended my local ward for 4 consecutive Sundays.

I'll make a special offer for you, Brother Korihor. As I enter my ward building on Sunday I will repeat in my mind the words "I, Corsair, do attend church for and in behalf of Korihor who is spiritually dead, and possibly inebriated." Proxy blessings may flow to you like manna from heaven.

[NOMinally Mormon]

I went through 2016 without attending church at all. Not even once. Interestingly, though, I had become a "project" back in 2014, when I was still active, though couldn't attend every week because of work. At the time it kinda bugged me.

Anyway, congrats to everyone on their own attendance accomplishments.

[Luther Heggs]

I have not attended my local ward for 4 consecutive Sundays.

I'll make a special offer for you, Brother Korihor. As I enter my ward building on Sunday I will repeat in my mind the words "I, Corsair, do attend church for and in behalf of Korihor who is spiritually dead, and possibly inebriated." Proxy blessings may flow to you like manna from heaven.

You crack me up!

[Korihor]

Well, shit.

I'm posting this in SS.

[Korihor]

I have not attended my local ward for 4 consecutive Sundays.

I'll make a special offer for you, Brother Korihor. As I enter my ward building on Sunday I will repeat in my mind the words "I, Corsair, do attend church for and in behalf of Korihor who is spiritually dead, and possibly inebriated." Proxy blessings may flow to you like manna from heaven.

I got bold and shared your comment with mrs kori. Much to me delight, she thought it was pretty funny.

[Silver Girl]

So - what happened when the RS visited? I like to live vicariously.

[Korihor]

So - what happened when the RS visited? I like to live vicariously.

I'll probably spend too much time and give too much detail on this, but here goes.

RS Presy visit was mostly uneventful. The RSP is...uh.... "grandma age" and treats every younger than her (which is many) like a naive grandchild. The other sister is in her mid-60's. Mrs Kori didn't say it, but I figured out they were using their "primary voices" and that bugged her.

Apparently not a lot of church talk. They went around the house and Mrs Kori showed them our various projects as well as Mrs Kori's garden. They were very kind and subtly tried to use anything they could to tie back into the church. Just standard LDS programming.

We went to church Sunday. We intentionally did not go to SM. Mrs Kori decided she hates SM because she just fights the kids for an hour and they say unintelligent things at the pulpit. She also has issues with the sacrament (but not what you would think). We go to SS and RS/EQ. The RSP corners Mrs Kori is RS and extends a calling - RS Activity Committee. Mrs Kori accepts cautiously. They ask invite her to help prepare some party/activity thing for the end of January. Mrs Kori declines.

Apparently, the RS activity committee is the standard calling for someone inactive/less active they are trying to help. Mrs Kori is easily on the projects list now and she knows it. She said it felt good to say "No" to something but has mixed feelings about the RS Activity Committee. She accepted that because she is good friends IRL with many of those women.

Mrs Kori said she plans to write the RSP a letter to explain her position. She is being treated like an recent convert that doesn't come every week. (which is standard protocol in the church when anyone doesn't attend perfectly).

Sooooo, I don't know where we stand. I thought maybe we wouldn't attend this week, but we got partial attendance anyway. Mrs Kori is one foot in, one foot out. We have real friends in this ward and it's tough to negotiate those relationships. However "what is being taught" is causing both of us much heartburn.

[Red Ryder]

RS Presy visit was mostly uneventful. The RSP is...uh.... "grandma age" and treats every younger than her (which is many) like a naive grandchild. The other sister is in her mid-60's. Mrs Kori didn't say it, but I figured out they were using their "primary voices" and that bugged her.

42 is "grandma age" in Mormonism!

[RubinHighlander]

Revelation 3:16 KJV - So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth, but not until I provide the Ward Council a sense of purpose by giving them you as a project to work on for the next several months!

This was the catalyst that made me write the letter of resignation to my SP and BR. I was happy to fade into the sunset, but living in a zealous ward, we quickly hit the project list when we started missing more than 2-3 Sundays/SMs each month. It started with DD in YW and the BR trying to call her in for an interview, which I refused to put her through. I was nice at first, just making up excuses, but this was a new and zealous BR and they had their ExecSec running ragged, calling everyone in the ward multiple times for their meetings or any meeting they wanted to bless you with. New Bish was former military, his priesthood mitaclorian governance count was higher than average.

I'd managed to stave off the invitation for recommend renewal. DW staved off the VS and RS visits. There were invitations for DW and DD to sing in SM, but we made excuses to be out of town. When the ES started contacting my DD directly, that was the last straw for me. I told him via text I didn't want her contacted directly anymore and that she would not be going to that interview with the BR. He was apologetic; I explained that I thought he was doing his job very well, that it was not personal and that I would take the matter up with the BR directly.

Then came the invitation for me to meet with the Bish. I told the ES I would be happy to meet the Bish for lunch sometime but that I would be unable to meet with him at his office at the church. At this point we were not going anymore. I was still fulfilling my calling as a 12 year Stake Tech Specialist, but there wasn't much going on there. About two weeks later I get an email directly from the Bish, wanting to go to lunch. I thought a lot about how that might go. We were essentially out at this time and I didn't think it would be a very good lunch meeting for either of us. He was a personal friend, but first and foremost a TBM Bish, so I didn't want to see the CogDis pain on his face as I told him I didn't believe it anymore.

The other catalyst to the resign letter was that I was not released from my stake calling when they put in the new SP. This would be the 3rd administration for me and 12 years as the STS. I'd had enough of wrangling AV for mind numbing events and conferences. I'd crawled through attics and basements of all three buildings, running CAT5. I'd been up on the roof adjusting wireless internet dishes to get the signal back for Stake Conference. Multiple times I'd replaced, installed and configured all PCs, printers, copiers, projectors, TVs and such for all three buildings over the years. I was there for the DOS based version of MLS to Windows! Too many hours in that satellite room or up on the pulpit trying to get antiquated equipment working, while hundreds stare at you, waiting for that projector or the sound to work.

So I gritted my teeth and hit send on the email. I couple of heart felt regret letters from the SP, SC and BR but surprisingly, so far, after over a year, we have not been harassed. 2016 was the best year ever! Just remember to keep the power in your court by not agreeing to talk in their offices in any official capacity, that you are happy to discuss your position with the church in a mutual public place or your home (if you really want to let them in). And, as you know, keep it simple without details. Don't let them treat you like a lost child! Good luck! It's a tricky path to walk, trying to stay in and out at the same time.